Chapitre 28: Chapter 26: Captive
So, what do I do now?
I was entirely surrounded, but I sipped at my tea all the same, thinking of the best course of action.
Wait! What if they spiked the tea with sleeping drugs or something?! Oh well, it wouldn't really matter anyway...
I'd used magic to make sure status effects couldn't affect me. The second poison entered my body, it'd be taken apart and detoxified. On top of those precautions, the dark powers that were still lurking in my body would do anything to make sure I stayed alive. Toxins or viruses didn't stand a chance against me.
Actually, maybe some bioengineered super virus—y'know, like the kinds we sometimes see in movies—would work. Who knows?
"What is going on?" I asked, my tone even.
I pretended to be calm as I took a good look around. Soldiers from every country were surrounding me. I spotted knights and even most members of my guard among them. Actually, apart from Layla and Fox, every single member of my guard was standing there.
You guys all turned into traitors? I'm shocked. I thought y'all liked me more than this.What a joke.
"We're so sorry, Lady Ellize! But..." One of the members of my guard spoke up after I glared at them, showing my irritation. "You may not forgive us for this but we... We don't want to lose you!"
So that was their excuse?! They'd signed up for the job knowing full well that saints always died after defeating the witch—although I doubted they knew what truly happened—and now they were backing off?
Whatever, I'll scold them later. For the time being, I need to find a way out of this mess.
Ten members of my guard, twenty-some knights, and a bunch of random soldiers were facing me.
Meh, I probably won't need more than ten seconds to make them all pass out.
Killing them all would have taken me less than a second, but there was no need to be that extreme.
"King Aiz," I started. "You just said that as long as I was here, peace would endure. Do you truly think someone who can make that happen can be restrained by a few knights and soldiers?"
For crying out loud, I'd need one spell to destroy this entire room and the people in it.
I was done putting my defenses up. No matter what they tried, they wouldn't land a scratch on me. That being said, I doubted they'd try in the first place. They thought I was the real saint, so they were likely convinced I couldn't get hurt.
King Aiz seemed a little intimidated, but his smile didn't falter. "Naturally, I'm aware we cannot restrain you, but the same cannot be said of your followers."
I immediately looked for Layla in the crowd. A sword was pressed against the back of her neck. It didn't look like she'd tried to resist.
SCOTTERBRAIN!!! Why are you letting them catch you so easily?!
"I hope you'll behave," King Aiz said. "We don't want to antagonize you, Lady Ellize. We'd just like you to...take care of yourself a little better."
King Aiz's tone was gentle, but he clearly had no intention to take my opinion into account.
You don't want to antagonize me, huh? As far as I'm concerned, you've been plenty hostile already.
"We're not asking for the impossible, are we? We just want you to remain in your position for your entire life. It's for your own good. Wouldn't you agree that living a long peaceful life is better than throwing it away in a meaningless fight? Just allow people to revere you and live out your days basking in might and glory. That doesn't sound so bad, does it?"
He wasn't wrong. It wouldn't be such a bad life...for me. However, it was another story altogether if you thought of the next saint. I'd be pushing everything onto her lap. King Aiz's plan wouldn't solve anything in the long run. We'd just be delaying the issue for a few years by maintaining a superficial peace.
I'd much rather deal with the crux of the issue and ensure that another witch would never be born. Besides, I didn't actually believe King Aiz meant any of what he said about me basking in might and glory or whatever. He probably intended to use my image while he kept me trapped in this castle until the day I died. Case in point: he hadn't even tried to convince me before he started threatening me.
"Please take your time to think about my proposal, Lady Ellize," he said with a smile before addressing the soldiers and knights. "Show the saint to her room! And don't forget to be courteous!"
"Y-Yes! Lady Ellize... Please follow us," one of the members of my guard said, gesturing for me to get up.
Beating them all up and fleeing was an option, but...they had Scotterbrain. It was probably best not to aggravate them for the time being. Then again, maybe I could beat them all up until they passed out—Scotterbrain included—then pick her up and make a run for it...
Was there really a need for that, though? If I pretended to listen to them and lay low for a while, there'd be plenty of opportunities to escape later.
Guess I'll be good for once.
"I don't need anyone to escort me. I know where my room is," I stated, getting up and walking toward my room—um, prison cell, I mean.
As soon as I stepped in, the door closed and I heard the lock click.
I expected as much. The windows were also locked, and just to be extra sure, they'd been secured by sturdy bars. I looked outside and saw guards wandering around under my windows. If I tried to break the bars to escape, they'd notice immediately.
I took a step back and looked at the rest of the room.
My room had been cleaned thoroughly. It was immaculate. The sheets of my canopy bed had obviously been changed very recently, and an expensive-looking table had been set in the middle of the room. That meant I could have tea whenever I wished.
I always knew that this castle could turn into a prison, but I'd never expected that to happen while I was still the saint.
If the door and the windows were out of the question, then the fireplace was the next best escape route, right? I didn't even need to check to know that the chimney would be too narrow for anyone to squeeze through. Well, any adult, that is—I was pretty sure a small kid would go through just fine.
I used my mana to craft a little fairy, sent it into the fireplace, and had it escape the castle. My first goal was to rescue Scotterbrain. As long as she was safe, I'd manage the rest somehow.
Sorry to disappoint, King Aiz, but I'm no damsel in distress.
I was pretty sure the others also knew that if I got my hands on Scotterbrain, I'd be able to escape in a heartbeat. They were most likely guarding her very tightly.
I guess we're in for a war of attrition.
Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about anything big happening at the academy for the time being. No one would die, even if I was away for a while.
Guess I'll just make myself at home, then.
◇
A week had passed since Ellize had disappeared from the academy. She'd said she was going to attend a party with several royal families from different countries, but it had been too long since anyone had heard from her.
The location of the party had been at the saint's castle, which was a mere three hours away from the academy by carriage. The Training Institute for Magic Knights of Alfrea existed to train knights who'd go on to serve the saint. Thus, the academy had been built close to the castle, at the border of the Bilberry Kingdom.
This only made Ellize's disappearance more worrisome. What in the world could have happened for her to fail to come back for an entire week? Verner wondered whether Ellize had decided to give up on her studies altogether. Maybe she'd returned to her castle for good. It wouldn't be so strange—in fact, Ellize attending the academy was much stranger.
If Ellize hadn't assured him she'd be back soon, he simply would've believed that.
Maybe something came up and she had to stay, Verner thought. But she'd at least send word if that were the case, right?
"Something's definitely wrong," Verner said.
Verner, Eterna, John, Fiora, Marie, Aina, as well as Supple—who was already experiencing withdrawal symptoms after a week without seeing Ellize—had gathered in an empty classroom after class to discuss the saint's absence.
"What if monsters or bandits attacked her carriage?" Eterna wondered, worried.
"Lady Ellize would have easily turned the table on them. Miss Layla's with her as well... I don't think monsters or petty thieves could hurt the two of them. Even if they had, we would have heard of it," John said.
If the saint had been abducted by monsters, the entire world—let alone the school—would be in uproar. Every country would have sent a search party and no stone would have been left unturned. However, none of that had happened. Things were quiet—unnervingly so.
The strangest thing, as far as Verner and his friends were concerned, was that there had been no comment on the academy's side either. While the school officials didn't seem all that worried, the students definitely were. Everyone was talking about Ellize's disappearance. Even so, there had been no attempts to explain the situation. Something was off.
"Mr. Supple, what does the headmaster make of this?"
"He continues to repeat that everything's fine like a broken record. We teachers haven't heard much either. Apparently, the king's office let the academy know that Lady Ellize wouldn't be returning."
"The king's office?"
"Yes. After the ceremonial dinner, we received word that Lady Ellize had decided to stop attending the academy. This has to mean that the Bilberry Kingdom—or perhaps even all the royal families who were in attendance—have a hand in this," Supple said.
The royals turning on the saint? If someone had told Verner such a thing a few weeks ago, he would've laughed it off. However, he wasn't so sure anymore now that he'd learned the secret behind the witch's identity while fighting Dias. He knew everything now, knew that the saint's castle was nothing more than a prison...and that Lady Alexia, the previous saint, had almost been killed in that very castle.
He couldn't stop his mind from going to terrible places.
"So you think the royal families could have locked up Lady Ellize?" Fiora asked. "But what for? She hasn't killed the witch yet, so she won't be turning into one anytime soon... Why would they want to imprison her?"
Marie looked like she'd suddenly understood something. "Isn't it...because she hasn't killed the witch yet...?" she suggested. "The world is already at peace, even with the witch alive. The witch is too scared of the saint to really do much, so maybe they thought that it'd be better if the two didn't fight at all..."
"In other words, the royals decided that maintaining the status quo was better and locked Lady Ellize up to make sure she'd listen to them?"
"It's only a theory..." Marie added in a hurry.
No one rebutted her; it made sense. It was much better to let the witch live than to allow Lady Ellize to become the next witch.
As long as the witch lived, the world wouldn't know true peace. However, such periods of perfect peace never lasted more than a few years. On the other hand, the relative tranquility they were currently enjoying could last until Lady Ellize passed. They couldn't find a single good reason why they should give that up just to kill the witch.
"Even if it makes sense, I still can't agree with what they're doing," Verner said. "Lady Ellize has a will of her own. She's not some doll to be used however they like to further their own agendas!"
Would keeping Lady Ellize locked up be for the best? No way! Verner couldn't accept that. He didn't know whether Lady Ellize ought to defeat the witch or not, but he refused to leave things like this.
Aina stood up. "There's no point in us discussing this. We're just speculating... We need to go talk to someone who knows what is really going on. Let's go speak to my father."
The new headmaster—who'd replaced Dias—was Aina's father. If she were the one asking, he might tell her the truth.
"You're right. There's no point in discussing theories. We need to find out the truth," Verner agreed. "Let's go."
Verner hoped that they were simply reading too deep into the situation. He truly hoped they were mistaken.
If they weren't... If the royals had stolen Ellize's freedom and were truly using her... Well, he couldn't speak for the others, but he'd already made up his mind. He wouldn't simply stand by—he'd fight against the rest of the world if he had to.
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone